Brittany
Loyalty doesn’t look the way it used to. We’ve moved past punch cards and points. These days, what keeps people coming back is how easy it is to interact with your brand—especially online.
Whether someone’s placing an order through an app, chatting with support, or tracking a delivery, those digital moments shape how they feel about your company. That’s why digital customer experience is no longer a side project, it’s the heart of how brands earn trust.
It’s Not Just a “Tech Thing”
When people hear “digital experience,” they often picture a flashy website or app. But the reality is much broader. It’s how smooth the login process is. Whether the chatbot can actually help. How fast a refund gets processed. All of it matters.
And it’s not just your digital or marketing team who needs to care. Product managers, developers, warehouse staff, even billing teams—they all play a part in creating experiences that either work or frustrate.
Friction Is What Drives People Away
We all know the feeling: you try to do something simple, like update your shipping address, and get stuck in a loop of dead-end links or repeated logins. You give up. Maybe you look for another brand next time.
This kind of friction isn’t just annoying, it’s expensive. Studies show that bad digital experiences are a leading cause of customer churn. On the flip side, reducing hassle leads to higher satisfaction and long-term loyalty.
Building Blocks of a Better Experience
So what makes for a solid digital experience? There’s no single formula, but a few things show up again and again:
- People want consistency across platforms. What happens on mobile should sync with what happens on desktop.
- They expect a bit of personalization—recommendations that actually make sense, not just random upsells.
- And they don’t want to repeat themselves. If a customer already shared information, don’t make them enter it again in a different system.
It sounds basic, but a surprising number of companies still get these things wrong.
It’s About More Than the Interface
We often focus on what customers see: buttons, colors, navigation. But much of the experience depends on systems behind the scenes. Are your platforms connected? Can data flow easily across departments?
If someone cancels an order through the app, does support see that update instantly? If not, you’re creating confusion. Good digital experience means all your systems are talking to each other, and to the customer, in real time.
Getting Smarter with Feedback
Another overlooked piece: listening. Not just after something goes wrong, but all the time. What questions are customers asking your chatbot? Where are they dropping off in your app flow? These small signals can guide big improvements.
It’s not about flooding your dashboard with metrics. It’s about finding the right ones that show where people are getting stuck—and why.
Where to Begin If You’re Behind
If your company hasn’t prioritized digital experience yet, you’re not alone. A lot of businesses are still playing catch-up. The good news? You don’t have to do everything at once.
Start small. Find one area where customers consistently hit a snag. Fix that. Then move to the next. Over time, those small wins stack up, and customers notice.
The Quiet Work That Makes a Big Impact
A lot of the most effective digital work happens quietly. Behind the flashy launches and buzzwords, there are teams just trying to make things smoother, cleaner, and more human.
That’s where companies like Sutherland Global come in. They partner with companies to rebuild the pieces most people don’t see, but that customers definitely feel. Their focus isn’t just on tech, but on making digital systems actually work for the people using them.
